Too Many Memories
by JustAnotherDarknut
Summary: Link spends a moment to reflect on Impa's quest to restore his lost memories, realizing remembering isn't what it's cracked up to be. An absurdly short one-shot


This is an absurdly short (and cheesy) one-shot I wrote for no reason. If you see any glaring errors let me know, I'm dysgraphic and sometimes I miss things. Enjoy. Reveiw if you can!

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Link sunk to the ground and leaned against the cold stone as he panted for breath. He was soaked from the rain, his hair clung to his face. That was fine. It hid the face that rain wasn't the only watery liquid dripping down his face.

Impa told him to go find his memories. Remember his life, his friends, his duty… and her. Remember that he had awoken after a hundred years to save _her_. Hadn't he done enough? He gave his life. He bled for her; dying in her arms as she begged him not to.

He didn't like remembering anymore. It started off innocent enough: listening to her "formally anoint him," hearing her blather on about the Divine Beasts, putting up with her condescending attitude about his duty as her vassal. That was easy. It was his job, his duty. Nothing more.

Yet he remembered the desert. She had, once again, pompously told him to screw off. Fine. She could have her ever precious space. Link could see her even if she walked yards ahead of him. It was of no consequence until he looked up and she was gone. In that instant, his being froze. He didn't breathe. He didn't feel his own heart. Only nothingness until he saw the blue speck in the corner of his eyes. Something in that moment awoke inside him, and within an instant, he had killed one Yiga member in a single blow. He could still feel his body shield her as his brandished his sword. That is when things had begun to sting.

Oh yes. He remembered looking down at her, watching her pant as her body tried to calm itself. Seeing her chest rise and fall as she whimpered. He actually had to divert his gaze. The adrenaline had simply worked him up. He didn't dwell on the squirm in his chest then, but it didn't go away. No. That stupid _thing_ kept existing while in her presence. When she told him to not be careless, when she tried to feed him a Goddess-forsaken frog, when she sat here and spoke of ifs. It was still there. Maybe that's why Link was here now, looking at the ruins of Deya Village. Maybe if he sat here, he would remember her asking him about his life's path in the rain. Anything to force other memories out of his head.

He could hear her sobs as she cursed the Goddess as the spring when there was no rain to drown it out. He could see her crumpled defeated figure kneeling in anguish in the road when he closed his eyes. He could feel her arms around him as he tried so hard to continue to breathe. He hadn't wanted to remember those things. Impa hadn't warned him some of his memories were better left forgotten.

She also didn't tell him he would remember more than just this past life. He had begun to remember _her_ in a pink dress, laughing with him on an island in the sky. Giggling with her as a child in a courtyard, promising to find sacred jewels. Memories of things that had never happened. Where that thing in his chest still existed.

Link hated those memories the most. They showed him snippets of lives that he would likely never truly know. Lives where the stinging pain in his chest was warm and inviting. Lives spent with her. One of these haunted him the most. When Link found the inner sanctum of the Forgotten Temple, all he could see what the statue of the Goddess. He felt the overwhelming need to climb it. He found a shelf near the top as if he was standing on top of the Goddess's hands. The mark on the wall called to him, and as he brushed his fingertips across the worn architecture, the memory violently crashed into his conscience.

Link could see her standing on the ledge in the open air. The sun shimmering in her golden hair as it softly fluttered in the breeze. He could not stop from smiling as she turned to him. Her eyes were bluer than the endless sky. She wanted to stay here, wherever "here" was. That was fine. He would go where she did.

 _"What about you Link? What will you do now?"_

Her voice almost floated towards him. He smirked for a moment before giving her an answer. Link enjoyed watching her eyes widen as she started to worry about what he'd say. Teasing her was far too enjoyable, but he had won this. He'd saved _her._ The Goddesses had granted him courage, although this was probably reckless use of it. Link wasn't sure if he cared. He slipped an arm around her waist and kissed her.

" _Zelda, I will stay with you. Never again shall I lose you."_

Link stuffed his face in his hands in a futile attempt to shove the thoughts out of his head. He had failed. It was no longer easy. This was no longer his job, no longer his duty. She was his passion, his soul. He had to save her. He would die for her again if need be. Anything to see her smile and feel himself in her arms again.

Link lifted himself off the stone, leaving the alcove. He turned to his left and walked up the small knoll, looking into the distance. He could see the spires of the castle, and the swirling bands of Malice that enraptured the surrounding grounds. Link could feel the Master Sword hum on this back. He would go. Where ever Princess Zelda went, he would go. He would kill Gannon, and in the back of his mind, he felt like he had done it before.


End file.
